World leaders approve of Trump-Kim Agreement | Daily News

World leaders approve of Trump-Kim Agreement

US: Major leaders across Asia and the world mostly voiced approval for Tuesday’s agreement between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to push toward ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, even as South Korea and others adopted a more cautious stance.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he told Trump in a phone call that the Singapore summit pact laid down a “big framework” for peace on the Korean peninsula and across the globe.

But Seoul’s presidential office said it was still trying to understand Trump’s decision to end joint US-South Korean military exercises, long an irritant to North Korea.

Trump announced at a news conference he was terminating the war games and said it would “save us a tremendous amount of money.” But the Seoul-Washington drills were not mentioned in the document that Trump and Kim signed.

The next set of exercises were set for August, but Seoul’s Defence Ministry said, “At this current point, there is a need to discern the exact meaning and intent of President Trump’s comments,” adding that there had been no discussions with Washington about the war games. Trump labeled them as “inappropriate” as North Korea moves toward denuclearization.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “The United States and North Korea have been in a state of antagonism for more than half a century. Today, that the two countries’ highest leaders can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed Kim’s approval of a commitment to complete denuclearization. The Japanese leader thanked Trump for raising the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals with Kim and said that “Japan will deal firmly with North Korea face-to-face” on the issue.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the “normalization of American-North Korean relations... is an integral part” of resolving “the problems of the Korean peninsula, including the nuclear one.” - VOA


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